Generally, various elastic tapes and threads are used to produce resilient bands in various types of articles or garments. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,305 to Sukuri et al., disposable diapers are disclosed which include individual elastic tapes or threads which are pulled from a container and threaded into a diaper for providing a resilient snug fit. Generally, most applications requiring such tapes or threads utilize some type of roller apparatus to pull the material out of a container. Once through the roller, a wide range of devices such as metering, pre-stretching, splitting and gluing devices may be used to adapt the elastic tapes or threads for incorporation in an article.
A common requirement for the various applications is to maintain the elastic tapes or threads at a controlled elongation when they are incorporated into the article, as any variation in elongation would cause variable elastic tension in the finished product, resulting in a defective product which would be either too loose or too tight for the particular application.
Though various devices may be utilized to incorporate elastic tapes or threads in products, a common source for variations in the elastic tension occurs during discharge of the tapes or threads from the source container. Such tension occurs due to friction or rubbing of the tapes or threads against the container sidewalls during discharge or due to tangles which generally occur within the container through rough handling in transport. Such friction or tangling may cause the threads to tug against the sidewall, setting up a cyclic variation as the thread becomes trapped, released and trapped again. Such tugging may be severe enough to cause the tape or thread to break, halting production and requiring restring-up of the equipment.